Joe
Lynn's transformation from carefree junior high school student to
cancer patient began innocently enough one Halloween five years
ago. Dressed as a werewolf, he had made the rounds of his Carson
City, Nevada, neighborhood, returning home with a sack heavy with
sweet treats. But he couldn't eat a one. His jaw hurt too much.

It
wasn't the first time Ann and Jerry Lynn's 13-year-old son had complained
of pain. Besides problems chewing, his jaw sometimes slipped out
of place.

They
took him to their pediatrician, a dentist, an orthodontist, and
an otolaryngologist (a specialist in ear, nose and throat disorders).
Nothing helped.

"As
long as I can remember, my jaw was different," says Joe, now
17. "We knew something was wrong, but we didn't know what."

"Our
pediatrician put him on antibiotics, but he said it was very unusual
for a child to have that much fluid in his ears," recalls his
mother, Ann.

In
the meantime, Joe was getting worse. His jaw was sore all the time.
He had chronic earaches and had started to complain of hearing loss.